Five Stars All Round
by TheHappinessApocalypse
Summary: AU - Gail is a waiter at a five-star French restaurant and Holly is in her last year of college. Both are 22 years of age. Rated T but will probably be M later on.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER I

"Lauren's looking for you," Carlos, the head chef, said as he walked into the walk-in fridge and grabbed some ingredients off the shelf.

Gail sighed, resting her head back against the cool metal of the wall as she sat in the corner on the floor.

"Hey," he said, turning around at the door. Gail looked up at him. "Just two more hours." He gave her an encouraging smile and then he was gone.

Gail sighed again and pushed to her feet, letting out a long breath before she emerged from the fridge.

"Gail, there you are!" Lauren, Gail's boss, said as she stepped out of the kitchen door. "Where have you been?" Gail went to answer, but Lauren continued, "Table four. They've got drinks already. Go." She pushed Gail towards the restaurant.

Just two more hours, Gail told herself. Just two more hours of stuck-up, entitled, rich snobs who looked down on her, tested her patience and left shitty tips, and then she had the weekend off. Yep, just two more _fucking_ hours.

She weaved through the tables to the back corner of the restaurant, where the light was dimmer and where four girls were sat looking at menus. Why did she always get the girls? They were worse than the creepy arse-grabbing, cleavage-staring male sleazeballs she had to deal with each night. She plastered a faux smile on her face and stopped at the table, pad and pen in hand.

"Hi, I'm Gail. I'll be your waitress for tonight. Are you ready to order?"

"What's the Sal-ade Ca-es-ar?" the slim-built, red head sat in the front seat on Gail's left asked without looking up.

"But explain it to her as if it was a kid asking," someone else said.

Gail looked over to the back right seat, occupied by a brunette. They made eye contact. The brunette smirked. Gail couldn't stop the twitch of her lips as she smiled a small smile back. She couldn't take her eyes off this woman; even under this dim light, she was breathtakingly beautiful. She couldn't help her eyes travelling down south from the woman's face. She was wearing a cream, button-up shirt, with enough buttons open to make the imagination run. Gail raised her eyes and the brunette quirked an eyebrow. Gail felt a blush spreading and quickly turned her gaze back to the red head.

"The 'Salade Caesar' is basically lettuce with caesar dressing and some other vegetables.

"What about the Sal-ade Dep-in-ards?" Again without looking up.

"The 'Salade d'Epinards' is spinach with some extras and dressing."

"What's Po-Let-ox-Porto?"

"The 'Poulet aux Porto' is chicken with white port wine and a mushroom cream dressing."

"And the Mag-ret-de-Canard-Sauce-Ce-rises?"

"The 'Magret de Canard Sauce Cerises' is duck with a cherry sauce."

"Right." She paused. "We'll take four of the lettuce salads and four of the duck and cherry sauce." The red head shut her menu, and dumped it on top of Gail's pad and pen before she could write anything down. She looked up to Gail for the first time, "Thanks," she said with a forced smile.

Gail was taken aback. She was used to people ignoring her existence as a human being and being outright arrogant, but this girl was something else. She blinked a couple of times, still staring at the red head. Gail was brought back when the girl dropped the other menus on her. Not sure what had just happened, Gail turned to walk away.

"Wait!"

She turned around to see the brunette in the corner with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, that was a bit loud."

"Don't apologise to _her_," the red head said, giving Gail a dirty look out of the corner of her eye. The brunette ignored her.

"Could you please make it three of those dishes and instead do you do, I don't know... like, fries or burgers or something?" she said hesitantly with a small nervous laugh.

"Holly, we're in a five-star French restaurant. They don't _do_ that." The red head grimaced.

Before the brunette - Holly - could say anything, Gail spoke. "I'll see if the chef can make you up something special." Holly smiled a lopsided grin. Gail nodded once and then walked away.

* * *

"Burger and fries?" Carlos said incredulously. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I believe her exact words were 'fries or burgers or something'," Gail said, nervously shuffling her feet.

Carlos looked at Gail, not saying anything.

"What?" she snapped.

A knowing smile appeared on his face. "Nothing. 'Fries or burgers or something' coming right up," he winked.

Gail narrowed her eyes at him, not believing how easy it was to get him - the _French _head chef of one of the best five-star _French _restaurants in Toronto - to agree to this. But he just chuckled and made himself busy preparing the 'special' dish.

* * *

It was 11pm and the restaurant was closing. Gail stood at the door, holding it open for the last few people that were taking their sweet-arse time in leaving, some smiling, some muttering small 'thanks yous', but most holding their noses a bit higher in the air and ignoring her. She closed the door and sighed, resting her head on the glass. It had been a long night. She was hot and sweaty and tired and just wanted to go home and go to bed. She turned the key in the lock and walked back through the restaurant to table four. She picked up and pocketed the tip money left by the four girls.

By the time she had wiped down every table, turned every chair upside down and balanced them on the edge of the tables, mopped the floor, watered the few plants around the room and wiped the inside glass of the windows, it was almost 12:30am. And she was exhausted.

She shuffled to the back locker room. It was empty. Of course. Everyone had left over an hour ago, except for Lauren, but she was the manager and locked up each night.

Gail just wanted to go home, so instead of changing into her street clothes, she opened her locker, stuffed her clothes in her bag, shrugged on her leather jacket and slammed her locker.

"I'm off now," she said, poking her head into Lauren's office.

"See you next week Gail," Lauren said with a smile before going back to her computer.

As soon as Gail stepped out of the door, the cold, biting wind hit her. She pulled the collar of her leather jacket up closer to her neck, readjusted her messenger bag on her shoulder, put her head down and started off towards home.

* * *

As tired as she was, Gail couldn't get this 'Holly' girl off her mind. Gail wasn't a nice person. She wasn't friendly or down to earth. She didn't go out of her way for people. She most certainly didn't ask Carlos to make special dishes for people. But she did. For Holly. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't work out why. She couldn't work out why this girl, with her long, wavy brown hair which flowed over her shoulders and down her chest, with her eyes which, unlike any brown eyes Gail has ever seen which always seemed hollow, seemed to be so deep and so full of emotion, lighting up every time she smiled - oh, that smile... she couldn't work out what it was about this girl - Holly - that caused her to feel nervous, to feel butterflies in her stomach, to feel herself getting all hot and bothered with just that adorable lop-sided smile. And to use words like adorable! This wasn't Gail. This wasn't her. She was prickly and snarky and sarcastic and hated people - especially happy people - and who everyone tiptoed around because the smallest of things would irritate her and cause her to snap. She wasn't a nice person. But she was. To Holly.

She smiled into the darkness. "Holly."

* * *

NOTE: I am not Canadian and have never been there, so please excuse any mishaps and wrong information. You can always message me and let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER II

It was Gail's day off. It was her day off and she was awake. Of course she was. Because when she knows she can sleep in, she can't. Or she can - _usually _- but Holly woke her up... Holly and Holly's smile and Holly's eyes and Holly's hair and Holly's open shirt and Holly's lips kissing her neck and Holly's hands touching her-

"Gail, are you coming to breakfast with me and Chris?" Dov asked, walking straight into Gail's bedroom without knocking.

Gail froze.

Dov stopped abruptly, his eyes growing wide and his jaw dropping. He just stood there staring at Gail in her... compromised position.

"Get out!" Gail screamed, grabbing at the bed sheets.

Dov slapped his hands over his eyes. "I didn't see anything, I swear! I didn't see what you were doing! I didn't see!"

"Dov! Get out!" Gail threw a pillow at him.

Dov spun around, hands still over his eyes and headed for the door. After walking into the wall and the door jam, he tripped over his own feet and out of her room. He quickly recovered, blindly feeling for the door handle before slamming the door shut.

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm really sorry, Gail," Dov said through the door. He was met with silence. "Gail?"

"Piss off!"

"So you're not-"

"Piss. OFF!"

Gail heard scuffling, hurried voices, footsteps and then the door slamming shut.

"_Shit,_" Gail hissed.

Somewhere between her waking up out of that... unexpected dream that left her sweating and breathing heavily, and that bomb that just blew her dignity into a thousand pieces, her hand had evolved a mind of its own and travelled down her body and into her underwear and-

There was nothing okay with what just happened.

That should not have happened.

Gail took a short shower - on the coldest temperature she could stand - to cool her down, the blush on her cheeks and chest disappearing. She dried and dressed, grabbed her bag and left the apartment. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she couldn't stay in that place. Not after this morning.

* * *

Snow. It was better than sun, but she hated snow. Because when it melted things got wet, and when it froze again things got icy, and then accidents happened and she ended up on her bum every five minutes. And then she would be cold, wet and bruised.

She picked up her feet and hurried down the street, wishing she had put more layers on. Her black jeans, black, short-sleeved tee-shirt and leather jacket were not enough to keep the cold out, and her combat boots had no grip on them.

She didn't realise where she was until she looked up and recognised the back door of the restaurant. She hesitated for a minute but eventually pulled her hands from her pockets and ripped the door open, rushing into the heat of the kitchen.

Carlos turned at the sound, his eyebrows knitting together at the sight of Gail Peck at work - a place that she _hated_ - on her day off. "Are you drunk?" he said seriously.

"What? No," Gail said, moving further into the kitchen. She put her bag on the island opposite the counter where Carlos was chopping up vegetables and jumped up next to it.

Carlos stopped what he was doing and turned to face her, leaning on the counter. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Gail said, but she could feel the blush starting to creep up her cheeks. Damn her pale skin.

"Are you aware as to what the time is, Gail?"

Gail hadn't looked at the time this morning. She had been... otherwise engaged. She looked at the clock on the wall.

7:28.

She avoided Carlos' eyes.

"Go."

She looked at him. "What?"

"Go into the restaurant," he said, ushering her off the counter and towards the door. "Go and sit down and I'll be there in twenty minutes."

She didn't protest.

Twenty minutes later, Carlos came out carrying two steaming bowls of spaghetti bolognese and two mugs of coffee. He placed them on the table and pulled out two forks from his pocket, handing one to Gail before sitting down and digging in.

Gail grabbed her coffee. In all the chaos this morning, Gail had forgotten to drink coffee. She had forgotten that she needed coffee in the mornings to function; that before she talked to anyone or was anything remotely close to symbolising a human being, she had to have coffee. She forgot. Holly had made her forget.

"Stop thinking," Carlos interrupted her thoughts. She looked up from her coffee. "It's too early to be thinking so hard. Hell, it's too early for you to even be up. Aren't you like, five hours early?"

Gail sighed, placed her coffee down and picked up her fork, sticking it in the dish and twirling it around, wrapping the spaghetti around the metal before lifting it up to her mouth and taking a bite. She chewed slowly. She had questions. She had so many questions. But she had no answers. She was a Peck. She was expected to ask questions, but she was also expected to have the answers, to know the answer to every question that arose, yet for every question she could answer, there were ten more she couldn't.

"Seriously, Gail, what's going on?"

"I just couldn't sleep." She shovelled another forkful into her mouth.

Carlos put his fork down and picked up his coffee, leaning back in his chair, studying Gail silently. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with 'fries or burgers or something' girl, would it?"

Gail stuffed her face with another forkful. She could feel the blush creeping up her neck to her face. She tried to stop it, tried to push it down, but that just seemed to make it worse. She felt her face heating up. Carlos kept his eyes on her, making her squirm.

"No," Gail murmured, keeping her head bowed.

"Now don't you lie to me, Gail Peck." Carlos said teasingly, but there was a hint of sternness to his words. "You ordered her a special dish. _You_ ordered someone a special dish, without influence from anyone. If anyone even asks if they can have a dish _altered_, you shoot them down then and there. But you let someone order something that wasn't even on the menu! You came and asked me if I could do it. And every time you came back from that table, you had this look on your face."

Gail's eyebrows furrowed. "What _look_?" Gail spat.

Carlos smiled. "A smile, Gail. You had a smile," he said softly. "I mean, you were as red as a tomato, but you were smiling," he laughed.

"I did _not_," Gail said indignantly. "I was not _smiling_ and I wasn't blushing... I was just hot."

"I'll say," Carlos chuckled.

Gail went back to her food, needing this conversation to just stop. Carlos got the hint. He went back to his food, too. They ate in silence, the only sounds were the hums of approval and the scraping of metal forks on china plates.

Gail had filled the time between ordering Holly's meal to the time the table's food was ready milling around, wasting time, avoiding Lauren so that she was there the moment the first course was done. The second the words "Three Salade Caesars and one 'Fries or Burgers' for table four" were called, Gail was there in an instant, collecting the four plates on arms.

She walked slowly through the tables, balancing the plates. When she got to the table, she placed the first plate of salad in front on the girl sitting next to Holly. She placed the second in front of the girl next to the red head. The third plate was placed in front of the red head.

"And one 'Fries or Burgers'," she said placing the plate in front of Holly. Holly looked down at her meal.

In front of her was a circular plate, a little bigger than the plates of salad. A burger in a bun, along with lettuce and tomato was up and a little to the left-hand side of the centre of the plate. Fries piled up like jenga blocks were a bit lower and to the right-hand side of the centre. Under the burger and stack of fries, two fries were placed, one flat on the plate and the other resting over it, creating an 'X' kind of shape. Across the top rim of the plate read _"Fries or Burgers..."_ written in tomato ketchup - quotation marks included.

Holly looked up at Gail and smiled the lopsided smile again. Her eyes sparkled. She looked like a child on Christmas morning who gets the exact present from Santa that they asked for. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing seemed to come out. She closed it and tried again. It seemed she, Holly Stewart, opinion on everything, was lost for words.

Gail just smiled at her and left the table to their food. She smiled all the way back to the kitchen and it never left her face as she escaped back to the walk-in fridge. She hadn't noticed Carlos watching her the whole time.

Gail lost track of time and it wasn't until Carlos popped his head in that she came back down to earth. "Second course is up for table four. But you know what, I can get James to take it over. He already cleared their dishes." Carlos went to move out of the fridge.

The smile dropped off her face. "I've got it." Gail jumped to her feet and shot out of the fridge so quickly Carlos had to laugh.

Gail picked up three rectangular plates of duck and an unexpected fourth one. She was going to owe Carlos, she thought.

She approached the table, again, setting down the three plates before placing Holly's in front of her, repeating what she had been told, "Chocolate cake with raspberries, dark chocolate and white chocolate."

Holly was just as surprised as Gail had been. In front of her was a triangular shaped piece of chocolate cake on the left side of the plate, the point of the triangle pointing towards the middle of the bottom of the plate. The top of it was sprinkled with icing sugar. Two curled sticks of chocolate crossed over one another on top of the cake. Three raspberries had been placed in the bottom left-hand corner. The long top and bottom edges of the plate were decorated with intricate white chocolate designs. To finish off, written in dark chocolate on the right side of the plate was _"...or Something."_ - quotation marks, again, included.

Holly's eyes filled up. She wasn't an emotional person, but all she had asked for was plain old burger and fries and here she was with carefully placed food and fancy cursive writing written especially for her. She looked up through her tears and smiled at Gail. "Thank you," she whispered. It was all she could manage.

Gail felt her heart beat faster and her cheeks becoming flushed. Her mouth went dry. She couldn't break her stare away from those beautiful brown eyes.

A clearing of a throat brought both Holly and Gail back to the table. The red head shot Gail a death stare. "That's all."

Gail left and went back to the kitchen, but not before glancing over her shoulder, to see that Holly was watching her walk away, with a small apologetic smile on her face and tears still on her cheeks.

"My office, Gail," Lauren said, coming out of nowhere. Her smile immediately fell and her heart sunk. She followed Lauren into her office and proceeded to get a telling off about how she was slacking and not working hard enough and needed to step up her act. That Lauren knew it was Friday night and it had been a long week, but Fridays were the most important nights and Gail needed to be on her top game. Because of this, because of Lauren giving her a lecture which her mother had given her countless times in her life about not being good enough and needing to be better, Gail had missed the girls finishing their meal, paying and leaving. She hadn't gotten to see Holly again. She hadn't gotten to say goodbye.

Carlos' voice brought her back. "She came by this morning," he said nonchalantly as he sipped his coffee.

Gail's head snapped around and her back straightened, her eyes intent on Carlos. "What?"

"'fries or burgers or something' girl. She came by around half six."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gail shot at him.

Although he kept his face serious and his body relaxed, Carlos had a glint in his eye. He sipped his coffee again and shrugged, "I just did."

Gail would have usually replied with a sarcastic remark. "Well what did she want? What did she say? Did she say anything? What did you say?"

"Woah there, tiger," he said with a chuckle.

"Well tell me what happened," Gail practically ordered.

Carlos had gotten in at six, like he did every morning. He was always the first one in, coming in two hours before any of the other staff. His cooking was an art, an expression of who he was and what he stood for. Every dish had to be cooked to perfection and look like it was being served to the Queen of England. He came in early every morning to get a head start, so that he could take his time. He didn't like to rush.

He was taking the rubbish bins out out back when a small "excuse me" made him stop and turn around.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," the girl waved a small nervous hand.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked her.

"Oh, right, yes, please," she said stop-startedly. "I was wondering if Gail was around or working today?"

"Gail, huh?"

She nodded.

He smiled. "You wouldn't be 'fries or burgers or something' girl, would you?"

She blushed. "I am," she said with a small, nervous laugh.

"I'm Carlos," he said, holding his hand out. "Head chef."

"Holly," she said shaking his hand. Her face lit up. "Did you make my food?"

"I did," he said.

Holly smiled. "I have _never_ tasted anything so delicious and it looked amazing. Thank you so much!"

"Hey, if Gail asks for a special dish to be made, you make it."

Holly cocked her head to the side looking confused.

"She doesn't... She's never asked before. But she asked, so I did," Carlos said.

A lopsided smile appeared on Holly's face. "Is she here or around today?"

"She's not working until Monday actually."

"Oh," she said, disappointed, but she tried to keep the smile there to cover it up.

But Carlos saw it in her eyes. "But I can let her know you came by?"

Holly seemed hesitant.

"Or, you know what? She's working the lunch time shift on Monday. We close at two, so how about you come by about two-thirty and she'll be here?" he offered.

That same lopsided smile was back on her face. "Monday. I'll be there. Thank you."

"Anytime," he said, going back to the restaurant.

Gail was looking at Carlos as if he had grown another head. "Here?! On Monday?!"

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p'.

"At two-thirty?" Gail asked.

"Two-thirty," Carlos repeated.

Gail smiled that smile that had been on her face last night.

"Smile any more and I'll have to take you to see a doctor," Carlos jibbed.

"You're such an ass," Gail said, punching him in the arm on her way past. "Thank you!" she yelled back through the kitchen, leaving Carlos to clear away their dishes.

Monday. Two-thirty. Holly would be there. She said so herself. She was going to see Holly at two-thirty on Monday after her shift at the restaurant. Gail was feeling something inside of her that she had never felt before. She couldn't place it. She felt sick and her heart was beating faster than usual, but she felt fine. In fact, she felt better than fine. Because she was going to see Holly again. Monday. Two-thirty. Holly would be there. She was going to see Holly at two-thirty on Monday after her shift at the restaurant.

* * *

NOTE: Holly's back next chapter. :)

I'm really excited about this story and by the response, I take it as you are too?

I love reviews. They keep me motivated.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER III

After dinner for breakfast with Carlos, Gail had returned to the apartment. She had grabbed snacks and beer from the kitchen, set the Xbox up and plopped herself down on the couch. She played video games by herself all morning until Chris and Dov came home. That had been less than comfortable.

She heard them come in but didn't take her eyes away from the game, shooting the last target in the back of the head.

"Hey... urr, Gail?" Dov stood awkwardly to the side of the sofa. "I bought you donuts. You know, since you missed breakfast and you know, after this morning."

Gail paused the game and stared at Dov. He squirmed under her gaze. "This morning?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Urr..." he swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yeah... you know, when I... walked in... to your room... and..."

He was saved when Chris came in from the kitchen with three beers, handing one to Gail and Dov. "Me first then Dov plays winner?" he asked, grabbing the other controller.

Gail smirked at Dov and proceeded to grab the box of donuts out of his hands. She stuffed one in her mouth before loading up a new game.

They had been playing for two hours when Chris' avatar blew up Gail's again. Gail huffed and just started eating another donut, washing it down with her sixth beer.

"What is up with you? You like, never lose." Chris asked.

Gail ignored him. He turned back to the game that he and Dov were now playing.

Playing with the boys had been a bad idea. She usually won all of the time, to the extent that they bored her sometimes, but she had been unable to get the upper hand at all. Well, with Chris anyway. Dov was just letting her win because he was embarrassed about this morning and probably felt guilty. But Chris had thrashed her every. Single. Time.

Gail just couldn't concentrate. On the game, at least. All she could think about was Holly, this mysterious girl who had walked into a French restaurant - a five-star one at that - and ordered something she could have gotten from _McDonald's _for a tenth of the price. This girl had been so unexpected and had turned Gail all tongue-tied and dizzy. Gail had never seen someone like Holly, her beauty radiating from her and ploughing straight into on-lookers' eyes, blinding them into awe. This girl had confused her to no end, but Gail was so glad that she had.

So she spent her Saturday mindlessly playing video games. And her Sunday too. And on Sunday, she had been even worse. It had been humiliating. She blamed Holly.

Gail woke up at seven on Monday morning. She showered, dressed, did her hair and packed her bag for work. Dov had her coffee and donuts waiting in the kitchen when she was ready. Ever since Friday morning, Dov had been like her slave, doing whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it. She didn't actually care that he had seen her. It wasn't ideal, but she was over it once she had taken a shower. What she had been humiliated about was what she had had on her mind whilst doing that. But if Dov wanted to be her slave, who was she to deny him that? Plus, as his friend, it was her job to make him feel really bad. He deserved it.

She left the apartment at nine. She had spent her morning thinking about Holly and today as little as possible. And she had done really well, only thinking about it _most_ of the time instead of constantly. Yeah... she hadn't done too well with that at all.

She got to the restaurant by nine-thirty, half an hour before the shift change. She had gone to the locker room, changing as slowly as possible, and then just sat down finishing her donuts and another coffee the rest of the time. She left the locker room at a couple of minutes to nine.

The restaurant was always busy and it was always full to capacity, even on cold, snowy days like this Monday morning in late January. It rarely gave her time to take a break (not that that stopped her), but it also meant that she didn't have time to think about a certain brunette. But that didn't stop her.

Gail was clock-watching. It was one of the worst things she could have been doing because it meant that time was going even slower than the weekend had. It also meant that she hadn't been fully concentrating on the job, meaning she had spilt more than her fair share of drinks and dropped more than her fair share of plates. Thank God Lauren wasn't in until the dinner shift; she would have been fired right then and there.

The more the hands ticked by, the more frequently Gail's eyes wondered to the clock. And by one o'clock, she was becoming so nervous and clumsily that Carlos had taken her off the restaurant floor and told her to just sit and wait. Apparently smashing four plates of lobster got her sent to the fridge where there were no plates, no drinks, no food, nothing she could break and no clocks to watch. But Carlos made her sit on the floor away from the shelves just in case. But hey, on the plus side, at least she got a really long break... which she may or may not have used most of to think about Holly.

* * *

The fridge door opened and Carlos walked in, wiping his hands on a towel. "You can come out now."

"Is it two already?" Gail asked, her hands sweating even having been in the fridge since one.

"It's two-thirty, Gail," he said.

"What?! But that means she'll be here any minute!" Her face lost all of it's colour, not that there had been much there to begin with.

"Well now you have no time to panic."

"I have to go and get ready," she said quickly, walking to the locker room.

Gail changed out of her work uniform. She looked at herself in the mirror. She took the band out of her hair and put it back up into a ponytail. She applied eye-liner before reapplying mascara and applying red lipstick (which she wasn't allowed to wear for work).

Her hands were shaking. She was sweating in all of the wrong places. She wiped her hands on her jeans. Why was she so nervous? Holly was just a customer. She was just a customer who Gail couldn't stop thinking about. _She is just a customer,_ Gail told herself. She didn't believe it, but it was worth a try. She took one last look at herself in the mirror, took a deep breath, and left the locker room.

She walked into the kitchen where Carlos was washing dishes.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"I sent them home early. Figured you could use the space."

Gail smiled. She was so thankful for Carlos.

She looked at the clock again.

14:33

She was late. Holly was late.

Carlos saw her. "Relax, Gail. Come and help me with these dishes to distract you."

"But what if she comes in the front?" she asked, moving to grab a tea towel to dry the dishes anyway.

"She won't. She will come to the back and the door is open so there is no missing you or you missing her. So just stand here and do the dishes with me until she knocks or calls out or whatever. Okay?"

* * *

They finished the dishes.

Three o'clock came and went.

Gail cleaned and re-cleaned and cleaned the work surfaces again, whilst Carlos watched on. Never having seen Gail like this, all nervous and panicky, it was amusing to watch and intersting to learn something new about her.

Half past three came in no time. Still no Holly.

Carlos had started perparing for dinner, watching as Gail took it upon herself to mop the floor over and over again.

Four o'clock came.

"Gail," Carlos said, but Gail ignored him. "Gail." She kept on moving.

He walked over to her and placed his hands over hers. She stopped moving, staring at the ground.

"The next shift is going to be here soon. Come on," he said, taking the mop out of her hands.

"She didn't come," she whispered.

"I know." He had never seen Gail like this, not ever. Not when she had her exams, not when her mother decided to see if Gail was any good at her job and came here to eat with Gail's Father, not ever. "Come on, go and get your things," he said, giving her a small push.

Gail shambled off to the locker room, grabbed her stuff and appeared back in the kitchen, still staring the the floor.

Carlos walked over, placing his hands on Gail's shoulders. "Maybe something came up?" he offered. Gail shrugged. He pulled her into a hug. She didn't reciprocate it, but she didn't push him away either. He kissed the top of her head. "Go home and get some rest. Tomorrow's a new day." He let her go and Gail shuffled to and out of the door.

Carlos sighed and shook his head.

* * *

She didn't come. She didn't turn up. Gail still couldn't understand why Holly had this... this _hold_ over her. Gail was a strong, independant woman; she didn't need anyone else. She held no expectations for people because they just let her down. But she had expected Holly to come. For some reason, she had felt okay with getting her hopes up with Holly, not feeling like Holly would let her down. But she did, she had, which just reinforced to Gail that she didn't need anyone, that she was fine on her own, and that that was the way she liked it.

Which, obviously, was why she felt disappointed. Because she didn't need Holly, right? Because she didn't care whether or not Holly showed up, right? All of which was why she kept looking back towards the kitchen door, hoping to see Holly, and why she felt her eyes prickling with tears, right?

Gail got to the street. She turned around and stared down the lane, seeing all of the backs of the shops, seeing the kitchen door still open, seeing the other chefs and staff starting to turn up for the five-to-eleven shift. She willed for Holly to show up, for her to just appear. But she didn't. She hadn't showed. She never came.

Gail sighed, wiping a stray tear that had escaped her eye off her cheek and turned around. She pressed herself closer to the wall to keep the cold out and rounded the corner, smacking into someone else, sending her to the ground along with their belongings.

"Don't you look where you're fucking going?" she shouted.

"I am so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you alright?" they rushed out, reaching to grab Gail's arm to help her up. She shrugged them off.

"I'm _fine_," she spat and got to her feet by herself.

She looked up, only to come face to face with Holly. Holly was blushing and looked kind of terrified. Gail's face softened immediately and she suddenly felt terrible for biting her head off. She bend down to pick up the books Holly had dropped. Holly did too.

"Hey," Gail said, a soft smile gracing her face, all of the books having been picked up.

Holly visibly relaxed. "Hey," she smiled. "I really am sorry about that. I wasn't-"

"It was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going," Gail interrupted.

"Thanks," Holly said, gesturing to the books Gail had in her arms. She went to take them but Gail stepped back.

"So where were you headed to with all these," she looked at the cover of the book on top," science books?"

Holly looked nervous. "I was actually hoping you'd still be at the restaurant."

"Actually, you just missed me. Maybe another time?"

With that, Gail brushed past Holly. Holly stood there, wondering what had just happened.

Gail stopped and saw Holly still stood there. She laughed.

"I'm kidding, nerd."

Holly turned around. "What?"

"Where to?" she asked, holding up the books.

Holly smiled. "This way," she said, taking a few steps backwards and hooking her thumb over her shoulder, waiting for Gail to catch up before turning around, both falling easily into step and an easy silence.

The streets were deserted of pedestrians, no one stupid enough to be out in this freezing cold weather. Well, everyone except for Gail and Holly.

"Where are we going?" Gail asked as they walked another block.

Holly looked over to Gail. "My car's on campus."

"Why is your car all the way over there?"

"Honestly?" Holly bit her lip. "I thought it was a nice day to walk to the library seeing as I only one class today and I got caught up there and I looked at the time and it was already half three and so I grabbed all my books and the ones I was taking out and then I got to the restaurant as quickly as I could but the front door was locked so I had to go around to the back and then... Well, and then I walked into you," she said with a sigh.

Gail scrunched up her face. "Who thinks walking in the _freezing cold _when it's _snowing _is a nice day?"

Holly laughed. Gail smiled at the sound.

They walked for a bit longer, coming to the school campus. Holly led Gail through the car park. She dug her keys out of her pocket and walked over to a silver Ford Fiesta, putting the key in the lock and turning it.

Gail stopped.

"Wait," she said. Holly looked up from where she had the back door open and was putting her books on the back seat. "You came to a French restaurant."

Holly tilted her head in confusion.

"You came to a _five-star _French restaurant," Gail said, as if it were obvious what her point was.

Holly looked from Gail to her car and back again, Gail's confusion finally making sense.

"Oh! Yeah, I wasn't paying. I didn't even get a choice," Holly said, walking over to Gail to take the books off her. "Had it been _my_ choice, I would have ordered take-out," she said closing the back door. She turned to Gail, "So are you getting in?"

"You want me to trust a total stranger and just get in your car?"

Holly paused. "Yes?"

Gail shrugged then moved to get into the front passenger seat whilst Holly got in the driver's seat. They belted up and Holly reversed. She pulled out of the campus.

"I'm Holly by the way," she said once they had been on the road for a couple of minutes.

"I know."

Holly turned her head to see Gail watching her and quirked an eyebrow.

"Your 'Four lettuce salad's and four duck's' friend said your name last night.

"Ahh, I see," said Holly. "But for future reference," she turned to Gail again, "not my friend."

"Why not? Too bitchy and dominant for you?"

Holly smiled. "Exactly. And also she was never my friend."

"You eat at fancy restaurants with all your non-friends?"

"No," Holly said, stopping at a red light. She faced Gail, "But I do go on really bad double dates with them."

"All double dates are bad, Holly."

"_Really_ bad double date," she said as the light changed to green.

There was silence in the car again.

"Where are we going?" Gail asked.

"You'll see." That lopsided smile appeared on Holly's face and Gail couldn't stop but smile with her.

"You better not be taking me to the middle of nowhere to murder me, Holly. I know karate. And self-defence. And I have pepper spray."

Holly laughed.

"And I _will_ hit a girl."

She laughed again. "I'll remember that."

"So why were you on a double date?" Gaid asked, suddenly changing topic.

"My friend Lisa introduced me to a friend of hers, Victoria," Holly glanced at Gail, "the red head, at a party. By the end of the night I had somehow agreed to not only Victoria setting me up with one of her friends, but also to a double date."

"So that was a first date?"

"The first and _last_."

"You dumped that chick?" Gail said, sounding impressed.

"No," Holly said, shuffling in her seat. "She dumped me. Right after we stepped outside after dinner."

"Well she's an idiot," Gail said, before she had a chance to think about what she was saying.

Holly blushed slightly.

Silence filled the car once more. But it wasn't an awkward silence. It was a comfortable silence where neither occupants found the need to fill an awkward lull in the conversation with pointless, mindless small talk. Because there was no awkwardness in the current non-talking and there was no need felt to fill it. It was actually _nice,_ Gail found herself thinking. She cringed a bit at that thought.

"Holly...?" Gail dragged out.

"Hmm?"

"Holly, we're driving out of the city..."

"We are."

"And the snow on the road is getting thicker."

"It is."

"And it's," Gail looked at the car clock, "already six?! Holly it's already six!"

"I know."

Time had sped up a lot since Gail had been with Holly. Had their silences really been that long?

"So why are we still driving?"

"Because we are, Gail. That's why," Holly said with a smile.

"Yeah, but _why_? Holly. Holly. Holly? Why are you ignoring me? Holly?" But Holly kept her eyes on the road. "Hmph." Gail crossed her arms and molded herself back into the seat, turning and staring out of the window and blurred trees flew past.

It should be weird, this whole situation, but it wasn't. Gail should be nervous, untrusting of this stranger, but that was the thing: Holly didn't _feel_ like a stranger and Gail felt like she _could_ trust her. And as she looked up at the already darkening sky, Gail felt her eyes dropping and her body getting heavy, but she didn't resist it. She just let the feeling of feeling safe in a place she probably shouldn't overcome her.

Holly smiled at the blonde, sound asleep against the window of the car, wondering just what she was getting herself into.

* * *

NOTE: I _know_, okay? I know. This shouldn't have taken so long to post (although I did say it may take a while) and it isn't that great. _I KNOW!_ But I wanted to post something for you all and I didn't have much time to do it in (which is why there may be errors - just tell me where they are and I'll fix them).

But I do have one question: Where in God's name is Holly taking Gail?


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV

The bumps in the road had Gail waking up and blinking a couple of times to get her eyes to focus. She looked out of the window and saw trees on either side. She turned quickly to Holly.

"You're actually taking me into the middle of nowhere to kill me!"

Holly laughed. "No. We're here," she said, nodding her head, motioning down the road.

Gail followed her gaze and saw large buildings up ahead.

"A farm?"

"A farm."

Holly looked over to see Gail looking horrified.

"Don't worry, Gail, you're pretty safe here."

"_Pretty_ safe?"

"Yeah." Holly shrugged her shoulders. "Unless a bear gets you." She smirked, but Gail couldn't see the joke through her panic. Holly laughed yet again.

They approached a double stone archway and passed under it.

They had entered into a quad with what was left of the gravel, with mud and grass growing through the ground, surrounded in old stone buildings.

Holly turned left, parking up outside a large, stone farmhouse with lights on inside. After cutting the engine, she proceeded to get out of the car. She rounded to Gail's side and opened the door. Gail got out and pulled out her phone to see what time it was.

_18:30_

"Why are we here?"

"I wanted to introduce you to me," Holly replied.

"Urr, hello? We're introduced."

"No," Holly said, shaking her head and walking around the back end of the car, not looking back to see if Gail was following. "I mean introduce to _me_."

"So you're _not_ the girl who eats out at French restaurants on dates? On _double_ dates," Gail asked, running to catch up to Holly who was walking across the quad, towards a metal farm gate in between two stone buildings.

"No, I'm not," Holly said simply.

Gail's brow furrowed. "Then who are you?"

Holly looked at her and smiled. "You'll see," is the only answer Gail got.

Holly opened the gate and led Gail in between buildings. After a couple of minutes, Gail saw a dim light coming from an open door. Holly stopped just before the door.

"Why are we stopping?" Gail asked.

"Because I don't want you to see the first part."

"What?"

Holly leant back against the stone.

"Just wait for a minute."

So she did. Gail stood with her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket.

Then a low, animalistic moan came out of the open-doored barn.

"What the _hell_ was _that_?!" Gail said with wide-eyes.

Holly burst into a fit of giggles. Gail's face was an absolute picture!

"Come on in, Hol," they heard from inside the barn.

Holly got her laughter under control before pushing off the wall and heading into the barn. Gail didn't know what to do. She just stood there. She stood there until Holly came back out and grabbed her hand. Gail looked at Holly. Holly gave her hand a small squeeze and a reassuring smile and a whispered, "Come on," and guided Gail into the barn.

There, amongst the straw, was a black and white cow, licking this tiny calf clean.

Gail stepped a few steps in front of Holly, unable to take her eyes away from the two beautiful animals. It was incredible. Gail had never seen something so raw and authentic, something so…

In her trance-like state, Gail failed to notice the man, now stood with Holly, and the brunette watching her with smiles on their faces. And they didn't say a word, not wanting to interrupt Gail in this moment which they had so often enjoyed together.

Gail turned and looked between the two faces. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a breath of air. Holly stepped up beside her, their hands still joined and smiled. "I know," she whispered as they both turned back to the new-born and mother in front of them. "I know."

They stood like that for some time, hand in hand, until the man put his hands on both their shoulders, taking both women by surprise.

"Come on, girls, let's leave them be," he said. He squeezed their shoulders and left the barn.

The women looked at each other. Holly smiled at Gail, creating a feeling of warmth to spread through Gail's body. Gail immediately retracted her hand. Holly's smile fell. The blonde took a step back and hooked her thumb over her shoulder before turning and practically running out of the barn, stumbling over her feet a couple of times on the way.

Holly stood there for a minute, trying to clear the feeling that Gail's exit had caused and trying not to think too much about the tingling Gail's hand in hers had left behind. She took a deep breath and walked out after the blonde.

She found Gail waiting at the car, hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and kicking the ground with the toe of her boot. She looked up when she heard Holly walking over.

"So," said Holly.

Gail focused on the dirt on the ground.

"Sorry I took you away just for that." Holly had wanted to show Gail who she was, what she was really like. Apparently it hadn't been as appreciated by the blonde as Holly had thought.

"I liked it," Gail said, still looking at the floor.

"You did?" Holly sounded both hopeful and doubtful.

Gail finally raised her head again. She hadn't liked Holly sounding like that, her voice filled with doubt and uncertainty. She nodded. "I liked it," she tried to reassure Holly. "I did. It was cool." She tried a smile, but it faltered, so she wiped it off her face. She really had liked it.

"You really did?"

"I did."

Holly beamed. Gail hesitated. The brunette, of course, noticed, and her smile fell.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," Gail started moving towards the back of the car. "It's just- I- It's- It's getting late. I should go and- I should-" She couldn't find the right words. "Bye," she said brusquely, before turning around and running through the arch and up the lane.

Again, Holly was left not knowing what was going on. Ever since she had met Gail, she had been excited to see her again, but today had turned her world upside down. One minute the blonde was in a good mood and the next she was cold and closed-off. And that should have bothered Holly, should have pushed her down and made her feel miserable, or rejected, or unwanted, maybe, but it didn't. No, it made her feel confused and interested and fascinated in getting to know Gail more.

Gail stood at the end of the lane, not quite sure what she was doing. Holly made her feel… weird. Holly made her feel warm and happy and her hand had made Gail's hand never want to let it go and her smile made Gail smile even when she didn't want to. This girl made Gail feel so many things that she wasn't sure how to deal with and like always, she pushed them down and created her emergency situation. Only for once in her life, Gail regretted doing that; she regretted getting out whilst she could because of Holly; because her smile disappeared and she looked… sad. Holly looked sad and that made Gail feel bad, feel regret, feel _guilty_. She was a Peck; she was a cold, heartless, tough bitch (just like she had been told countless times by countless people), but Holly made all of that go away, made her wish she wasn't those things, made her wish she could just be _Gail_ for once. And that was new and scary and it had all happened very quickly, but at the same time, Gail never wanted to let that feeling go.

Gail checked her phone:

_19:54_

Time had passed by so quickly. Had she really been in that barn for over an hour? She put her phone in her pocket and started walking along the road. She should be back home by midnight, if the cold didn't freeze her to death first. Or if she didn't get hit by a car. Or if a bear didn't come and maul her and feed her to its cubs. Gail started running; better safe than sorry, right?

* * *

NOTE:

Thank you for reading Five Stars All Round. :)

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to update this story and I know that the chapter is so long, but I have either not had the time to write or have not had the motivation/inspiration to write.

Updates _should_ be quicker than this one has been.

Reviews are always appreciated - they make me want to keep writing (even if it takes me longer than it should to update). :)


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER V

Holly had thought about it and dismissed the idea as quickly as possible, pretty sure her company would be unwanted, and so she had headed into the house. She had considered it again and had nearly done it, but she had managed to push those thoughts out of her head by making herself a cup of tea. But then she had been sat at the table with her tea and there was nothing left to distract her and convince her not to do it, so she had called out that she'd be back later and grabbed her coat and keys and left.

And that is how she found herself driving slowly in the dark – although still early – partly because of having to squint to see through the heavy snow coming down and partly because she didn't want to miss her. Who cared if her company was unwanted? Who cared if the blonde bit her head off? It was minus three degrees outside and Gail wasn't dressed appropriately and she would be damned if she was going to let Gail walk home in the freezing cold.

Holly continued to drive, well aware that it had only been twenty minutes since Gail left. Where _was_ she? She should have found her by now. Maybe Gail had been picked up or had caught a ride. Oh God. Holly's mind started to spin, her brain conjuring up scenarios of kidnap and abduction and Gail being helpless and- Oh, there she was.

Gail was jogging along the side of the road with her head bent down to protect her face from the cold and the snow. Holly slowed down and pulled over onto the other side of the road, a short distance in front of Gail, but the blonde jogged past her. She lowered the window and pulled up next to her again.

"Gail."

The blonde stopped and in no time at all had run around the car, yanked the door open and scrambled in next to Holly, rubbing her hands together and blowing hot air onto them, then fiddling with the knobs and buttons, and soon hot air was blasting out of the air conditioning. Gail belted up and Holly pulled onto the road, heading for the city.

They drove in silence. Soon enough, the lights of the city came into view and then they were driving through the deserted snow-covered streets. The restaurant came into view.

"You can just drop me off here," Gail said, breaking the silence.

Holly ignored her comment. She stopped at the junction. "Left or right?"

Gail kept her eyes on the buildings outside. "Right," she mumbled.

The brunette hesitated for a second, feeling worse and worse the longer her and Gail were in the car together, but turned right anyway.

She supposed she would be pissed off too if someone had been late and then driven an hour and a half out of the city just to be surprised with a calf and its mother when she didn't care in the slightest. But that's what confused Holly the most; Gail had been more than willing to go and when she went into that barn, Holly could have sworn that Gail had truly loved it. Then she left so quickly and Holly was left with mixed feelings of I-kind-of-like-you and I-can't-wait-to-never-see-you-again and she didn't know which one to listen to, which one was real and which one had clouded her sight and made her see something that was obviously not there. In the car now, though, it was clear to see which feelings were real and which she had made up.

Gail mumbled several more directions before mumbling, "Just up here on the right."

Holly pulled up outside a block of apartments, eight stories high with four apartments on each floor, the majority of the lights turned off.

When it looked like the blonde wasn't going to get out any time soon, Holly turned the ignition off. If it had been anybody else in the car, she would have said something, but she didn't want to give the blonde more reason to dislike her even more than she already did.

Holly sighed and rested her head back against the head rest.

It was weird. The first time they met at the restaurant, Gail had been so kind and her eyes had sparkled like the moon does when it's reflected in the ocean at night. The second time they had met, Gail had been angry but as soon as their eyes met, it was like her anger just disappeared and was replaced with a soft look. Then there was the panic about the bears.

Holly laughed softly.

Gail turned away from the side window but didn't look at Holly or even acknowledge her presence. She faced forward, head resting on the head rest, mirroring Holly's position, looking out of the windshield.

There had been that look of horror on her face when she heard the noises from the barn. But then there was that smile, that look of complete awe when their hands were joined and they stood watching the sweetness of mother and calf. But then there had been that look of resignation. Gail had shut herself down and closed herself off. Or maybe she just stopped pretending. And then she was gone. And now they were here, in this strangely comfortable awkward silence and she couldn't even begin to guess what was running through the blonde's head.

God, she wished she knew what was running through the blonde's head.

Holly closed her eyes and sighed again.

"Thank you for tonight."

It was spoken so softly that Holly wasn't sure if she had actually heard it. She opened her eyes and turned her head towards Gail. The blonde remained facing forward. The brunette matched her position.

Holly cleared her throat, but she couldn't bring herself to speak above a whisper, as if the air in the car was too fragile, too scatty, to handle any loud noise, anything that broke the quiet. "You're welcome."

The tension thickened the space between them; the air thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Gail, I-" Holly stopped short. She pressed her eyes tightly closed. Well, she had started now; might as well just go for it. After all, she couldn't ruin this – whatever it was between them – anymore than she apparently already had. "I'm sorry," she started again. "I'm sorry I was late. But more than that, I'm sorry I took you tonight."

Gail's heart sunk at hearing those words. They were like a bullet straight through her force field, straight through her shield, straight through the wall she had built around her heart.

"I don't know why I did it, why I took you. I guess- I thought..." Holly sighed. She couldn't get what was in her head to make sense coming out of her mouth. "I thought we had something. I thought that there was something between us. And don't worry; I am _so_ aware of how _unaware_ I evidently am of anything, and maybe it's because that date sucked or because my friends keep going on about how single I am or because I think you're really beautiful-"

That was the last straw for Gail. She whipped her seatbelt off, leant over, grabbed the brunette's face between her hands and vehemently attached her lips to other woman's.

It took Holly less than a second before her hands came up and cupped the blonde's face, the second she did so seeming to power Gail into motion as she unclipped the brunette's seatbelt and in one very skilled manoeuvre was suddenly straddling Holly.

Holly couldn't help the moan that escaped her mouth as the blonde settled on her lap and their kiss grew more heated, the blonde trailing her tongue over Holly's lip asking to be let in, and Holly accepting it without reserve. The sounds that were made when their tongues met, when they tasted each other in rough swipes, were verging on animalistic.

Holly's hands encircled the blonde's back, pulling her in closer. Gail's hips automatically bucked, sending a jolt down Holly's entire body.

Gail slid her hands from Holly's face, over her shoulders and down her collar, gripping at the lapels of Holly's coat and pulling back slightly, slowing their lips down; all the rush of lips and tongues and clashes of teeth replaced with soft, purposeful movements.

They kissed once, twice more, before Gail rested her forehead against Holly's, giving both women a chance to catch their breath, but both still unable to resist stealing a kiss here and there.

Gail breathed Holly in, revelled in her hands gently rubbing up and down her back. Her eyes flickered open to find brown, hooded eyes looking back, pupils fully dilated and filled with lust. Gail's heart jumped at that and she found herself leaning in and planting a lingering kiss on Holly's lips once again.

They sat there in the silence of the car, the air thin enough to make their heads spin. Or maybe that was the effect of the other woman in the car. Finally – and reluctantly – the silence was broken; but still only a whisper.

"I have to go," Gail said, forehead still rested upon Holly's and eyes still closed.

"Yeah," Holly whispered.

Gail leant in for a small kiss.

"When will I see you again?"

"Do you _want_ to see me again?"

The question itself was innocent enough, but the way it had come out of Holly's mouth caused Gail to sit back and open her eyes. Holly immediately opened her eyes at the loss of contact and tightened her grip on Gail's back.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Holly looked anywhere but at Gail and shrugged.

Gail hooked her finger under Holly's chin until she looked at her again.

"Did I do something wrong?" Gail asked tentatively.

Holly jumped to reassure her. "What? No! No, not at all! It's just-"

Gail kept her eyes on Holly, never once faltering. "What?"

"I thought you didn't like me," Holly whispered even softer than they were already talking.

"Does this look like I don't like you?" Gail raised an eyebrow and smirked, gesturing to their position.

Holly laughed. "No, I guess not. It's just after the barn-"

"I know." Gail looked sheepish. "I know. I'm not good with people when I hate them, Holly."

Holly's face betrayed her as she tried to not look hurt.

"I just insult them really. But," Gail continued, "I'm even worse with them when I _do_ like them."

A smile graced Holly's face.

"And when I like a stranger as much as I like you, I don't know how to act because I have no experience with it. And none of this makes sense, I know, but-"

This time it was Holly who cut Gail off, brushing her lips against the blonde's and then pulling back again.

"I'm free tomorrow night," the brunette said.

Gail smiled and once again, leant into Holly's lips. She pulled back just as their lips touched.

"Oh, fuck!"

"What? What is it?"

Gail pecked – excuse the pun – Holly's lips again and sighed.

"It's Peck family dinner tomorrow night," Gail groaned.

"Don't get too excited there, Gail," Holly laughed.

Gail couldn't help but smile at the sound of Holly's laugh. _God, _what was _happening_ to her?

"The strained conversations and my mother talking about me joining the police force and trying to set me up on dates and telling me how she 'really must make an appointment to get your hair done Gail,'" Gail mocked. "Yeah," she drew out, "I can't _wait_."

"Can you skip it?" Holly asked.

"Do you _want_ me to skip it?"

Holly didn't answer right away and before she could, Gail said, "Done," and kissed the tip of her nose.

Holly laughed, "Really? Just like that?"

"Just like that," Gail nodded. "I mean, she'll call me a hundred times and force me to give her a reason good enough as to why I missed it, but I can deal with Elaine."

"Where and when?"

"I finish work at three."

"So the restaurant at three?"

"I'm not working at the restaurant tomorrow."

"Where are you working tomorrow then?"

"Pooling Around? The swimming pool by-"

"By the school." Holly smiled. "I'll be there at three."

Holly captured Gail's lips and both women found themselves smiling into it. Gail broke the kiss.

"I have to go," she said.

"Okay," Holly replied, but neither made any further movement to leave the arms of the other.

That was until her brother...

One knock on the driver's seat window had both Gail and Holly jumping out of their skin. Gail turned to glare daggers at the intruder, only to find Steve and Traci smiling and rounding the car, heading into the apartment block.

Holly looked at Gail.

"That was...?"

"My brother," Gail rolled her eyes. "And now I really have to go," she said.

Holly nodded and only let Gail get off her lap after getting lost in her kisses for one last time that night. One more peck on the lips with the promise of tomorrow and Gail was shutting the car door and running to get out of the cold.

Gail stopped at the door to the apartments and smiled over her shoulder at Holly before disappearing into the building.

Holly sat in her car for a couple of minutes, calming herself down and even more confused by Gail Peck than she had been before all of that happened, and then started the car and drove home.

Gail pressed the button for the sixth floor and waited, leaning back against the elevator rail and crossing her arms over her chest.

She was still running her mind over tonight, over what on earth she was doing and what her and Holly were doing and why it felt so _right_ with this near-on complete stranger when the bell dinged and the doors opened, cutting off her thoughts just as her mind was starting to spiral and the panic was coming into view.

Gail took a deep breath as she stepped out and walked the hall towards her apartment... to find the group of people that called themselves her friends with shit eating grins plastering their faces stood in the doorway...

**NOTE:** I am updating again because half term has ended now and I am going back to school, so there is a high possibility that there won't be an update for a while.


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